In hand breading apparatus of the type taught in U.S. Pat, No. 3,910,227 and 4,182,260, the apparatus comprises a table structure mounting and open top breading pan having a central opening in its bottom which is normally closed by a removable plug. A sifter is mounted beneath the breading pan and a catch pan is positioned beneath the sifter, the sifter being in the form of an upwardly opening foraminous basket adapted to be oscillated about its vertical axis.
In use, the breading, which is usually flour admixed with other flavoring ingredients, is placed in the breading pan, the opening in the bottom of the pan being closed by its plug. The pieces of food to be breaded are first dipped in a container of batter mix positioned adjacent the breading pan and the food pieces are then dipped in the breading where they are manipulated by hand to ensure complete coverage by the breading. As an incident of the breading procedure, some of the batter mix combines with the breading to form dough balls which do not adhere to the pieces of food when they are removed from the breading pan. These dough balls remain in the flour, and as the breading operation continues the flour becomes contaminated with dough balls to the point where the breading operation becomes inefficient and ineffective to completely cover the pieces of food with the breading.
Even though the breading is contaminated with dough balls, it is uneconomical to discard the remaining breading; and in order to salvage reusable breading, the plug in the bottom of the breading pan is removed and the residual breading discharged downwardly into the underlying sifter which is then oscillated to thereby sift reusable breading into the catch pan which underlies the sifter. Reusable breading deposited in the catch pan is returned to the breading pan, whereas the dough balls are retained in the sifter. With this arrangement, it is necessary to remove the sifter to discharge the collected dough balls, or in the alternative, the dough balls must be removed from the sifter by hand. In either event, the removal of the dough balls is a time-consuming operation.
In contrast to the foregoing, the present invention provides an improved sifting mechanism which automatically discharges the dough balls from the sifter as an incident of the sifting operation.